Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas II Memorandum of Agreement
Recognizing the importance of conducting a second breeding bird Atlas in Wisconsin, to run from 2015 to 2019, your organization agrees to actively support the Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas II, and acknowledges the following principles and objectives of the project:
- Birds are an essential part of Wisconsin's culture and ecology. Yet many species face grave threats from habitat loss, climate change, and other human-caused pressures and nearly one-third are imperiled, or will be, without intervention. To conserve them, we need a current understanding of birds that rely on Wisconsin to breed and raise their young.
- A comprehensive field survey will systematically document evidence of breeding during the appropriate seasons for all bird species using replicable survey techniques.
- This project, the largest avian citizen science project in the history of Wisconsin, will require the mobilization of thousands of volunteers across the state.
- The Atlas will provide measureable data that will allow comparisons with other Wisconsin studies to document breeding bird population changes and trends, especially comparisons to the first Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas (1995-2000).
- The results of the Atlas will provide a major scientific database to help guide the conservation of birds for years to come. The Atlas will play an integral role in the management of Wisconsin birds, serving as a reference for public policy, conservation planning, education, recreation, and research.
- The Atlas will be a coordinated and cooperative project that will bring bird enthusiasts together along with partnering organizations and agencies so they will become more involved in conservation issues and educated about birds as a natural resource.
The Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas II requires no formal commitment to any specific actions by any of its endorsers. It does require, however, a desire to promote the welfare of Wisconsin's wild birds through support of the Atlas.
On behalf of the members of the above-named organization, I (we) hereby commit ourselves to actively work in support of the Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas II.